I have wondered if anyone here on Flt Aware can give me a clue as to why the various Dornier 328’s have seemingly disappeared from U.S. airline service. I only rode on the cockpit jumpseat once and thought it was quite a fine airplane. Especially well suited for commuter airline service.
Was it withdrawn because of high operating costs or were there some other reasons. Thanks in advance.
Borrowed from the Wikipedia page, the last sentence is relevant:
The 328 (or Do 328) program was initially begun while Dornier was still owned by Deutsche Aerospace. The basic 328 first flew on 6 December 1991,[1] and entered commercial service in October 1993.[2] The 328’s new fuselage allowed for comfortable three-abreast seating, with the potential for a four-abreast configuration. Combined with the supercritical wing developed from Dornier’s Do 228, this gave the 328 excellent cruise and climb capabilities. However, the 328 entered a market crowded with other competing turboprop aircraft at the time, as well as increasing competition from new regional jets in the early 1990s.[3]
I had read wikipedia’s description already, yet couldn’t help but think inspite of regional jets displacing turbo-prop aircraft in many markets the 328 prop versions were extremely fast and easily able to fly short segments as quickly if not quicker then regional jets. The 328’s cabin in my opinion are larger and more spacious.
I would also think the operating costs were far less then any regional jets of the time. I also note that a large number of those regional jets are now in the scrap heap, I assume because of their small size.
I’ve also noted the U.S. Air Force has about a dozen of these airplanes and are adding more. For what purpose i have no idea.
Anybody else on here have any additional information comments appreciated.
guess the history says most
In 2001 Fairchild Dornier GmbH was the world’s third-largest manufacturer of regional jets. Its two namesake predecessor companies produced some of aviation’s most unique and effective military aircraft. After merging, both Fairchild and Dornier then set their sights on the hotly contested market for small regional airliners. In 2002, however, Fairchild Dornier filed for bankruptcy protection and shuttered its U.S. operations; the future of the company in Germany also remained uncertain.
The D328 was the same size as the E120, Saab SF340, and Dash-8-100/200. When RJ flying exploded in the mid 90’s and displaced a large number of the 30 seat props in the market, the older designs stayed as they were generally cheaper to operate and paid for while the D328’s had hefty leases.
It also didn’t help that the largest US-based D328 operator, Atlantic Coast Airlines, lost their capacity purchase contracts with United and Delta, shed the D328’s, launched Independence Air, and quickly went bankrupt.
Vision Airlines does have a handful of D328’s and they did do some scheduled service around 2011, but I believe they are currently in storage.
Finally, it was late to the party, by the time it first flew the CRJ-100 had also made its first flight and the CRJ entered service a year before the D328.
The D-328 Aka C-146A for the Air Force are part of a Special Operations Squadron,so they can fly classified missions.
The Dormier disappeared for two reasons ;
First Fairchild Dornier went bankrupt which made customer suport difficult if not impossible .
Second was the American flying publics aversion to turbo props.
Ultimate Jet Charter operates the 328-J. Seen them running KFRG - KACY for the casino charter, as well as sport team charters.
UJC also has a scheduled public charter operation flying CVG/LUK-MDW/MMU/CLT It’s not cheap, but it’s cheaper than walkup fares on Delta and the service is supposed to be very nice.
We get them every once in a while kbuf-kacy… About once a month… The other weekends it’s usually berry aviation’s brasilias